Guessing calories in meals? (please answer)

ETA: I rarely guess. But when I go to restaurants I only eat half my meal and save the rest for another meal. Just to be safe.

I eat out almost every day during the summer (too many delicious food trucks nearby to avoid them all).

I just guess very conservative. A big burger starts at 800 calories and I adjust up if it has lots of bacon/cheese/mayo/sauces/etc. I adjust down for chicken burgers or if there's no cheese/bacon/etc.

A 6" sub starts at 600 calories and gets adjusted the same way. A chicken sub might be 450-500 cals, sausage sub might be 700-750 calories.

Pizza starts at 300 calories a slice and gets adjusted up/down based on size and toppings.

If you're totally lost, find something similar on a restaraunt website and use that as a base.

Always assume they use full fat everything, assume everything is covered in butter and be conservative.

I agree with Default. I always try to over estimate food calories and under estimate calories burned from exercise.

HOW DO YOU GUESS CALORIES IN MEALS and how often?!

EX. i eat 75% of an eggplant parm from a pizzeria.. how to guess?
EX. Subs from delis can range from meat packed, thick bread too lighter bread and barley meat.. how could you possibly guess this?

if the restaurant you're going to doesn't list their nutritional online, then choose things that are easily deconstructed or will be fairly consistent across vendors. on the sub, take a look at how many slices of which meats they're using, how many slices of tomato, leaves of lettuce, etc. you can always order the mayo and mustard on the side, in which case they'll usually come out in 1oz containers.

if we're going to eat out, i'll check the nutritonal online first and see what works. if that's not as much of an option, i'll plan the rest of my eating so that i can be a little more lenient and not go over my macros.

how often would you say you guess how many calories in your meals?

not very often... once or twice a month, tops. i do all the cooking, weighing everything, and i buy raw ingredients to make my lunches at work, so i know exactly what's going into them and can log accordingly.

If it is just a run of the mill, eat on the fly eating out situation, I will google something similar and make smart choices based on what I have learned in my logging, weighing, measuring experiences. If it is a special occasion I will just make the best guess I can and enjoy my meal. I will eat less and exercise more the days surrounding the overindulgence to keep my averages on target. I guess at least once a week, and if there is a party I don't even bother logging but I make up for it on other days. The not logging seems to only happen once a month and it hasn't hindered my weight loss at all.

I try not to focus so much on daily goals, and instead look at the week at a whole and see if my daily averages or on target. I have some days where I am eating 1200 calories (sometimes less) and other times that I am close to 2000 (or over I'm sure on non logging days), yet my weekly averages tend to be around 1500-1600/day. It works for me because I don't feel deprived. I make the best choices I can in my normal day to day life, and enjoy special treats when they come along.

ETA: As for pizza, I live in NY and there was so much variety in how many calories are in a slice of NY pizza. I found an article that broke it down based on an 8 oz slice. I input that information in the database by oz and weigh my slices every time we order in. They always tend to be about 6.5 oz, so when I eat out I use that as a guideline and adjust as necessary. If I get toppings I add that separately.

Wow everyone thanks so much for all this advice and support. Does anyone else ever feel kind of uneasy about eating out or at a friends house?

Also, do you "save calories" for night time snacking?
I have been doing this for 2 years and I LOVE being able to enjoy some snacks before bed... opinions on this?

I'm never really uneasy I just used that hand portion control chart I sent you. Apart from that, I don't eat in the afternoons or evenings anymore because I start binging. I just eat breakfast and lunch. I do calorie cycle however which means I have higher calorie days and lower calorie days. I tend to go out on the higher ones and stay at home on the lower/normal ones.

That being said you should do what works for you, just make sure it all fits in your calories.